Palace welcomes Canada’s move designating PHL on list of focus dev’t countries

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MANILA — Malacanang on Saturday welcomed Canada’s move of designating the Philippines on the list of development countries of focus.

This move will allow the Philippines and other countries to be priority beneficiaries of Canada’s international development assistance program.

Among other countries included on the list for this year include Burma, Mongolia, Burkina Faso, Benin, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Jordan.

Presidential spokesperson Edwin Lacierda in an interview over state-run dzRB radio welcomed the good news, saying that the Philippines has always had a good relationship with Canada.

He said that many other international partners have also pledged assistance to the Philippines since they could easily see how the government puts the allocation to good use.

“You can see how far the assistance has been allocated,” Lacierda said.

When asked if President Benigno S. Aquino III had any plans of visiting Canada anytime in the future, Lacierda said that he would still have to ask the President himself.

However, he did recall that Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper has previously visited the Philippines in 2012.

During Harper’s visit, he pledged to increase Canadian investment in the country, cooperate on defense and trade, and commit to people-to-people exchanges between both countries.